La Hacienda de Cairo!

[Scott]

Nice to hear of Eclectus playing with toys! Neither of mine showed the slightest interest beyond occasionally nudging with their beaks.

You are doing the best possible to manage Cairo's "out" time, still generous and more than many parrots receive. That he has a well stocked palace is a wonderful compromise!!

 

[Tami2]

Awesome!! :35: :35:

 

[SassiBird]

• Should I attach a plank inside for him to walk around on and play with some foot toys on? I’m thinking of placing it in the dome top area.

All my cages have planks in them. I put them above the food and water to protect the dishes from poop.

 

[saxguy64]

That looks awesome! Absolutely fantastic! He must be so happy.

My Saturday trip to the refuge for supplies and stuff gave me a chance to redecorate Tucker's cage too. I took a chance and got him his first ever boing, hoping he'd like it. He jumped on and climbed every inch of almost immediately. Yay!

Not quite as well done as Cairo's palace, but he was excited, and LOVES his toys! I came home from work to find wood chips everywhere. He's been a busy boy today.

 

[charmedbyekkie]

I love the natural wood in Tucker's cage - he looks quite pleased with the setup

I was also so surprised to see how fast they take to the boings! Cairo was so hesitant about the hoop when we first introduced it, so we had to make it a game of flying to his hoop and hanging upside down and waving for treats. So I was shocked to see the top of the boing become his favourite nap/observation place. My only concern with boings is how on earth to you keep them clean from poop?

 

[Beeker]

I just put together a smaller version of this. The AA Grande with the play top. I could have gotten the dome but my Amazon spends so much time on his play top and boing ropes that I decided to go that route. Wonder if your parrot broke his feather because he fell off a boing. My Amazon is still very young but agile and seems to fall off every several days. But there is nothing to get in the way on his way to the seed tray.

Just put it together today and he played on the playtop but I didn’t want to force him in just yet and he didn’t volunteer. I also put a blanket on one side of the cage at night and he faces it just five or six inches away at bedtime.

 

[wrench13]

Wow that is some cage ! I'm sure cairo is going to grow into it and it will truely be his home.

We added a natural stone flat perch to Salty's cage, on the upper part of the door, and he likes to receive his treats in the cage on that. It gives him a place where his feet are on a flat surface that is not a cage floor with bars, and help keep is nails trim and the caluss on the bottom of his feet from getting out of hand. Ours is approx 7" x 7".

 

[charmedbyekkie]

Panic of my life this morning

Normally I put Cairo's breakfast in right before I go to work. It's still dark, and he usually just peeks at me and decides whether he wants to wake up then and there for breakfast or if he wants to sleep some more. Even when he wakes up for breakfast, he usually goes back to sleep after.

So yesterday he was sleepy early because of our flight session in the late afternoon. I tucked him in early because no point making the poor little guy stay awake and he doesn't automatically fly into his cage to sleep just yet. Which meant this morning, he was happily awake for breakfast.

He walked from his sleep perch and started clambering down the side bars of the top and door area when suddenly he slipped! His wing feathers threaded between the bars and he couldn't get a grip with his feet and his beak was just trying to latch onto something. He was screaming and I had to quickly check to make sure he wasn't holding onto the door before I could swing it open. I shoved my hand under his feet and body, lifting him up and away from the bars. He immediately went quiet. My first priority was to calm him so I could check him over (yeah right, this bird doesn't like to be touched to be examined). He relaxed a little, then took off flying his usual route through the house, which turned out ok since I got a good look at the front and back of his wings as he went up and down the hallway. I was frightened he was going to fall flat when he took off from my hands so suddenly.

Luckily he didn't even break a feather. Phew! I was terrified his struggling would cause him to break his wing. And breaking a wing would be so devastating for a free-flighted bird like him - he'd go bonkers trying to recover from that kind of injury. I mean, he gets grumpy if he doesn't get regular flight time.

I immediately angled the rope perch on the door, so that he'd have a clear walking path. He seemed perfectly fine after his short morning flight. I put him back inside to see if he was ok with the cage still, and straight away, he went for his breakfast. Even when I left the house, he was noming away like nothing happened.

My partner checked on him throughout the day and said Cairo's completely normal. I'm heading home now after work to cuddle him with my eyes since he doesn't like physical cuddles.

But wow, I guess the bars are too slippery. I did thread banana leave through them, but that wasn't really enough I guess. I might have to add more perches where he normally climbs sideways on the bars or shift things around some more. Maybe a Salty-inspired flat perch would be a nice addition if I can find it.

 

[Allee]

Very scary, close call. Good save, I’m glad you were right there to help when Cairo slipped and so happy to hear he’s all right.

Congratulations Cairo! WOW! La Hacienda de Cairo is a crib built for a king! I love the color, my Amazon’s cage is very similar but dark green, the cream color is so much brighter. Beautiful set-up, Cairo is going to love his new room.

 

[Scott]

So glad Cairo was not injured! More perches a plus, and wonder if roughing up the wooden perches with sandpaper might help?

 

[Birdmom12]

Try creating a protective sleeping area for him in one of the upper corners. We have seen that Amazons like to have a place that they can sit on a perch and because of the placement of hanging toys around them feel safe, secure /separated.
Using the outside of the cage, place a number of hanging toys from the top outside of the cage so that they create a semi-open screen (blind) and repeat on the inside of the cage. The goal is to create a place that is easy to get in and out of and also provides just enough of a block of viewing him that one has to take a double-look to confirm that he is in there.
Poop on hanging toys is reality. Commonly, you will note that there are places that he enjoys Perching /Sleeping and stuff located below that area should be limited and it should not be a place in which food and water are located.
Love the full height front door. They really make life with Parrots easier.

To go off of what Sailboat said.

We recently got ours a VERY SIMILAR cage. we have toys all over the inside as well. In the top corner we found a curved perch that sits snug up high. I've noticed anytime shes sleepy or ready to roost for the night she settles in on that perch. We also keep that corner partially covered in the morning. Shes a bit of a hellion if you wake her up to fast.

I noticed on the "nesting box door" it looks like you created a bathing area! Is that what it is? I love this idea.

 

[charmedbyekkie]

We recently got ours a VERY SIMILAR cage. we have toys all over the inside as well. In the top corner we found a curved perch that sits snug up high. I've noticed anytime shes sleepy or ready to roost for the night she settles in on that perch. We also keep that corner partially covered in the morning. Shes a bit of a hellion if you wake her up to fast.

Yep, I've made sure we keep his little sleeping corner covered. It's largely uncovered during the day, though we keep a little part on so he can safely nap if he wants.

And I feel you on the waking up fast part - my partner doesn't realise Cairo needs his morning routine and ends up with a squawking, stumbling bird. I keep telling him you need to quietly whisper "Good morning" a few times before
approaching his cage

I noticed on the "nesting box door" it looks like you created a bathing area! Is that what it is? I love this idea.

It's actually a food box! It's incredibly helpful since Cairo can only eat fresh chop, so I put his food in there. There's a built-in perch inside, so he steps in and can fling his food around to his heart's delight. I know there's an Australian brand that makes them, called Seedmate. But we bought ours as a knock-off from China. It's acrylic and can be disassembled to lie flat, so if you have the connections and a design, you could cut your own.

I know some places like Amazon (the store) do have bathing boxes for parakeet/budgie sized birds, so I'm sure you could find one for your flock Just not sure if there's an Amazon (aka George) sized one..